Work stress, control beliefs and well‐being in Greater China

Abstract

Towards the end of the twentieth century, the world has witnessed an amazing economic take‐off in the East Asia, especially within the territory of so‐called “Greater China”, encompassing the PRC and Taiwan. Against this economic and cultural background, this study surveyed 258 and 189 employees respectively in Taiwan, and the PRC (Shanghai), to examine generalizability of a generic work‐stress model to the Chinese societies. It further examined the sub‐cultural differences in the work‐stress processes, by drawing contrast of the PRC and Taiwan. In addition, roles of emic constructs of Chinese primary and secondary control beliefs were also examined. Results showed that the generic work‐stress model could be reasonably applied to Chinese urban work contexts in the PRC and Taiwan. Work stress related as expected to strain effects. At a more refined sub‐cultural level, it was found that different sources of work stress became salient contributors to strain outcomes in the PRC and Taiwan. These differences reflect the diverse political, social, and economic characteristics of the two Chinese societies. More importantly, emic constructs of Chinese control beliefs were found to have rather consistent direct effects on strain outcomes. However, indirect (moderating) effects of control beliefs were not strong and inconsistent.

Work stressors, Chinese coping strategies, and job performance in Greater China

“…Chinese coping strategies such as seeking social support and active action were positively related to job performance. These findings were consistent with previous studies showing detrimental effects of work stressors and beneficial effects of coping separately for the Chinese people (e.g., Lu, 1997, 1999; Lu et al, 2001, 2003; Siu et al, 2006). The added value of the present study is that we included subsamples from three geographical subregions in the Greater China zone—mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan—thus our current pooled sample better represents Chinese employees in the region.…”

“…Twenty‐three items were chosen from existing Western scales that have also been found relevant to the Chinese and proved reliable (Liu, 2002; Lu, 1997, 1999; Lu et al, 2001, 2003). We used these items to assess four stressors: workload (5 items; Spector & Jex, 1998, e.g., “How often is there a great deal to be done?”), organizational constraints (11 items; Spector & Jex, 1998, e.g., “lack of equipments or supplies”), interpersonal conflict (4 items; Spector & Jex, 1998, e.g., “How often are people rude to you at work?”), and lack of autonomy (3 items; Hackman & Oldham, 1975; e.g., “I decide on my own how to go about doing the work”, reversed score).…”

“…First, the three are important industrial cities in the Greater China region, representing mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan. Second, previous research (Lu, Cooper, Kao, & Zhou, 2003) led us to conclude that despite historical differences, employees in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei have similar experiences of work stress nowadays (Lu, Kao, Zhou, & Siu, 2001), and use similar coping strategies (Siu et al, 2006). We thus set out to explore whether these work stressors and coping strategies affect job performance for all employees in the Greater China region.…”

“…Lu, in a series of studies conducted in Taiwan, found that heavy workload, lack of work autonomy, and interpersonal conflict are the most prevalent stressors for Taiwanese employees (e.g., Lu, 1997, 1999). In an earlier comparative study, Lu et al (2001) noted that heavy workload and interpersonal conflict are common work stressors for employees in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It thus seems that heavy workload (perceived amount of work in terms of pace and volume), organizational constraints (situations or things that prevent employees from translating ability and effort into high levels of job performance), lack of work autonomy (lack of freedom and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out), and interpersonal conflict (experiencing disagreements or being treated poorly at work) may be four salient work stressors for Chinese workers.…”

The influence of perceived stress on work-family conflict and mental health: the moderating effect of person-environment fit

“…Lu et al . () found that in workplaces in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, the poorer mental health indicated by the research subjects was mostly related to a high perception of pressure. Other studies have also found a significant negative correlation between perceived stress and mental health (Elkins et al .…”